If you live in South Dade, you won’t have power back until Tuesday, FPL says

If you live in South Dade, and you still don’t have power, get ready to sweat a little longer.

FPL has tweaked its promise of restoring power to Miami-Dade County by Sunday night. Instead, anyone living south of Miller Drive — Coral Gables, South Miami, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Homestead and Florida City — will have their power restored by Tuesday night.

“We have refined our timeline,” FPL spokesman Richard Beltran told the Miami Herald late Friday. “Harder hit areas in South Dade will be up by Tuesday.”

Beltran said FPL is aiming to have 90 percent of Miami-Dade County up and running by Sunday night, and 95 percent by Monday.

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“We found significant tree and debris damage which is causing delays and challenges in the restoration,” Beltran said.

Pinecrest officials didn’t stay quiet Friday night. Mayor Joseph Corradino fired off a public notice telling its citizens that the city attorneys will explore taking legal action against the power company.

“The town is sweltering and upset and we just hadn’t seen any trucks,” Corradino told the Miami Herald. “FPL kept reiterating that Sunday was the deadline. I kept checking the data and there was no progress. Pinecrest was 80 percent out immediately after the storm. Come Thursday evening, four days later, we were 75 percent out, yet they were telling us they had 200 people out in the city working. Clearly they were not prepared for this storm nor were they realistic with their deadline.”

“Today is the sixth day since the passing of Hurricane Irma in the South Florida area and still a substantial and inordinate number of City of Coral Gables residents and businesses unjustifiably remain without power,” Coral Gables City Attorney Craig Leen wrote in a cease-and-desist letter to FPL.

In the letter, Leen demanded that all homes be powered up by 11:45 p.m. Sunday. If not, the city’s legal team said FPL is subject to fines of $500 to $15,000 a day.